Sentinel947

There's also another statistical force at play here. Correlation does not equal causation. The BSA noticed that Scouts who earned first class in one year are more likely to continue in Scouting long term. Scout retention and First class rank in a year are probably correlated, but that doesn't mean earning first class in one year causes or influences Scout retention by itself. Without the BSA's data to run analysis on, I hypothesize that Scouts who earned first class in one year before Operation First Class are/were typically in very active troops with lots of opportunities to go on activities. Rather than push the Units to get Scouts to first class in a year, the key to scout retention is an active and engaging unit program. This isn't a surprise to any of us on this forum. Maybe pushing units to advance Scouts to first class in one year is easier than getting units to run a good program?

Your council or National may be able to provide clarity. As written, my guess is that the issue has to effect more than one country, but the project only has to benefit one country. IE Deforestation is a problem in many countries.

People always have choices, regardless of their life circumstances.

Reread, deleted question.

It's a quote of a comment from 2010. Where ever @Beavah is, I hope he's well.

Actually wrote a article for my district newsletter about this topic. Encouraging Troops to get out, use the patrol method, and follow council and local guidelines. I've copied it here: "As our units start up fall programing during COVID 19, we are faced with a great opportunity to embrace a core aspect of the Scouting program: The Patrol Method. Robert Baden Powell was once quoted “The patrol method is not a way to operate a Boy Scout Troop, it is the only way. Unless the patrol method is in operation you don’t really have a Boy Scout Troop.” A patrol, a group of eight or so Scouts, is not just a method for organizing our Scouts. It is a place where youth can learn new skills, practice leadership, and make new friendships. Dan Beard Council has outlined COVID 19 safety guidelines for Ohio and Kentucky under the “Restart Scouting Safely Plan.” For the full document please visit http://www.danbeard.org/scouting-restart-safely-guide-now-available/. It details what restrictions are in place for Scouting activities based on Ohio and Kentucky Health Department regulations. At present, Scouting activities are to be limited to groups of no more than 10 people, including two-deep adult leadership. Scouts and leaders should also social distance and wear face masks when unable to maintain distancing. This may make meeting as a whole Troop challenging, but is the perfect number for patrols to meet. The patrol method is even more useful if your traditional meeting location is still closed to groups or has occupancy limits. Patrols can meet independently of the Troop at different locations or different days for activities, assuming proper two-deep leadership can be maintained. Meeting by patrol has the benefit of pushing decision making and planning down from Troop level youth leadership down to the Patrol leaders. For some Troops, this level of responsibility for Patrol Leaders is normal. For other Troops, this would be a new developmental challenge. Troop level youth leaders such as Senior Patrol Leaders or Troop Guides still have a role in assisting Patrol leaders to prepare their patrol activities and make sure each patrol has the necessary resources available. When your unit camps this fall, the Patrol method helps ensure your Scouts maintain groups of 10 or less and keeps them from congregating under common spaces like dining flies or picnic pavilions. Smaller cooking groups also have the added bonus of giving Scouts more opportunities to practice their cooking skills. It’s important for adults attending Troop or Patrol campouts to ensure safe dining practices are practiced such as eliminating self-serve buffet style meals and common water coolers. For a complete list of suggestions for dining, food prep, camping and transportation, please reference the “Restart Scouting Safely Plan.” As we enter the middle of the fall camping season, each Scouts BSA unit has a chance to utilize the Patrol method, not just to keep Scouts and Scouters safe, but also to provide a great small group program for our Scouts."

@SemperParatus you've got quite the tenure here! Thanks for your service to Scouting, past or present. That being said, you clearly aren't happy with the BSA for untold reasons. So why are you still participating here? Don't you have something better to do?

My understanding is that family members are always ok in regards to the one on one rule. So siblings or parent-child are fine. The rule is not terribly new. No one on one contact is at least as old as my time as a youth member 2005-2011. Sometime around 2012-2013 I became aware of the application of the one on one rules to outside of Scouting, but it probably predates that. My question, what in the Guide to Safe Scouting/ YPT training has you convinced it applies between family members?

De facto vs de jure. De facto discrimination is alive and well. De jure discrimination is mostly gone, although there are some places where laws are passed because they disproportionately effect people in one group or another. Discrimination today is typically much more subtle and less overt than in the 1960's, making it easier for people to pretend it doesn't exist.

It's the same way in the Corporate Sector. Lots of people sitting on multiple boards, whether it's for profit or non-profit orgs.

I mean, yea. I paid $17.5 for one night at Pickett State park in Tennessee, + $5 for a backcountry permit in the Big South Fork National Park. Overall it was $21.50 for 4 people for 4 nights. Monthly BSA dues are starting to become as expensive as the outing itself.

I could see youth packs having issues fitting bear canisters, but I have a 55 liter adult pack (Osprey Exos) and I can fit a bear canister inside of it with 4-5 days of food and gear. I've gone pretty far down the ultralight, minimalist rabbit hole, so that may not be everybody's experience. I included a picture from my 2019 Lost Creek Wilderness Trip. I'm the one with the black and green pack. Certainly in late spring, summer, and early fall when extra clothing needs are limited, fitting a bear canister in a pack has a higher chance of success. I'm not an expert on bears, but in late fall, winter, early spring, depending on local bear hibernation patterns, going back to a sub optimal food hang is probably just fine. Another option for the canister is that while hiking it can be emptied out and lashed to the outside of the pack, and the food can be carried in stuff sacks inside the pack. That helps work around the dead zones inside the pack that the inflexible canister creates.

I've almost broken down and started just using a bear canister on every trip. I hate the weight and bulk, but the more I've backpacked, the more I hate hanging bear bags. That seems to be the conclusion Skurka has already come to.

Can't make an edit, this isn't close to Cumberland Gap, was actually going to Big South Fork National Park..

That's not entirely correct unless something has changed since 2013. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/04/30/active/#:~:text=The Scout must meet the unit's reasonable expectations for activity.&text=noteworthy circumstances that have prevented,taken hold and been exhibited. If the unit fails to uphold a consistent standard then yes, the default is effectively, "Dues paying"= Active.

I actually drove through Burnside on my way to Cumberland Gap National Park a few week ago. Myself and a few buddies, all former Scouts, had never heard of Burnside's Scouting's connection and..... we didn't even consider stopping. Only thing we saw was a sign. That being said, that area is a hotbed of Southern KY tourism.. The Red River Gorge/Daniel Boone National Forest is nearby, as is the Big South Fork, and Lake Cumberland.

Clarke Green at ScoutmasterCG had a similar solution. I cannot find the Podcast/Blog Post that had it, you're welcome to look: https://scoutmastercg.com/ More or less, he had patrols in his troop sign up in 3 month increments. Still one meeting a week, one outing a month. Patrols would form based on attendance, interest and availability for outings. This would ensure that the active scouts always had a cohesive patrol to participate in. Scouts who needed to be away from the Troop for sports or another activity would be in a "inactive" patrol. His troop had modeled this based off the academic/sports calendar for the local school system. I don't recall if he kept the usual 6 month terms, or went to 3 month terms for other Troop PORs. It's a great idea, and I'd encourage my Scouts to adopt a system like that if I was a Scoutmaster/still involved in a troop.

Unless you were a Scout in 1915-1924, you weren't involved in the original Lone Scouts program before it merged with the BSA. What you participated in was either a modern regional/local variation, whether BSA official or unofficial. Not sure, maybe you can tell us more about how you got involved in it. Based one what I've read, heard from older Scout volunteers, and what's supporting materials available from the BSA, what you participated in is not the typical Lone Scouts Program. You are in a sense, contradicting all other known sources of information, and making claims I am unable to verify. Your Lone Scouts experience is likely truthful, but that doesn't mean I should take it as representative of how Lone Scouting works everywhere, particularly when it contradicts every other source of information I have on the program. Your points about the program being for rural as well as urban youth is spot on. Therefore no, I haven't heard anything like that from you, and I didn't claim that I did, nor did I quote you, or use any of your comments in mine.

The 6th edition is highly regarded. I'm also partial to the ninth edition since I have a copy signed by the author. Wish the original owner hadn't drawn on it. You can also find the 1st edition BSA book or Baden Powells original "Scouting for Boys" online for free if you want a good peek at Scouting and life in pre WWI period.

@dkurtenbachs post brings up an interesting question to me. What are our goals for Scouting? What do we want youth to get out of Scouting? Lone Scouting and the Scouts BSA program have different outcomes based on their structure. Lone Scouting is more about individual growth in the context of youth to parent activities. Mainstream Scouting's outcomes are based mostly on individual growth in the context of peer to peer involvement, with some youth to adult interactions. There's pros and cons to each and these are fundamental differences. As mentioned, Scouts BSA involves heavy volunteer support, and units either fail to recruit volunteers, or quality volunteers are not interested or not available. Beyond a lack of interested youth, a lack of qualified, quality volunteers is the Achilles heel of the Scouts BSA program. Units with strong adult volunteer groups will run attractive growth filled programs, and will have plenty of youth and adult volunteers. As the adult leadership decays, so does the Troop program, and so does the interest of youth joining. I personally have no need for lone Scouting if I have kids. It's the same reason I'd have no need for "Family Scouting." I can get them in the outdoors, learning new things and experiencing cool places, without paying the BSA anything. I'd put them in Scouting because I want them to have that involvement with other youth, and to benefit from the mentorship of other adult volunteers. I'm willing to pay for that, the same way I'd be willing to pay for Band, theater, sports, or church youth group. I'm entirely unwilling to pay for something that I can do myself for free. I can see where some Scouts and some parents, Lone Scouting would meet their needs and goals and that's fine. A significant chunk of the Scouting program (IE, what's in the Scout Handbook and Merit Badge program) can be delivered by just the parents to their Scout. When I reflect on my Scouting experiences from my youth, I don't often think about what I learned in my merit badges, or what I did for rank advancement. I think about time spent with my friends, in my patrol, practicing teamwork and leadership. Those shared experiences with my friends is the true value in Scouting for me. Seriously offering Lone Scouting is a neat option, and it'd be low overhead for national to run, so why not give it a shot? It wouldn't cost much, would appeal to Homeschooling Families or people in areas not served by Scouting. Most of us here think that Scouting offers something to young people (socialization, leadership skills, conservation ethics, outdoor skills, life skills). Our goal should be to bring a high quality Scouting experience to as many youth as possible. For better or worse, the BSA is the vehicle we are stuck with if we want to fulfill the "as many as possible" part. Lone Scouting doesn't check all those boxes, but it's definitely something. As for the success or failure of the BSA I always go to the mission statement. "The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law." This is extremely hard to measure quantitatively, but not all things worth doing can be measured by quantitative metrics.

I don't disagree. I'm sure the AG thinks that she's going to strike a big blow against 2A advocacy, but that money is just going to move to other 2A orgs if she dissolves the NRA. Modern day Pyrrhus. Accidentally, she's doing Gun Owners a favor, because that money is currently being blown on expensive suits and vacations, rather than campaigning for gun rights, or paying lawyers to find solid cases to challenge laws.

PP and Abortion are protected by the courts interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Not the 1st. The AG of NY looking into the NRA may be politically motivated, but the charges are not. It's been well known among NRA members for a long time that LaPierre has been helping himself to donor funds, which is illegal. Maybe all charities do this, and just don't get caught, but I find that unlikely. Wayne gets paid a nice salary, and felt the need to help himself to even more NRA member money, money that WE NRA members pay so that they'll challenge unconstitutional gun laws. Then the NRA comes back crying poor. Many gun owners are disgusted and have found better run 2A advocacy groups to support with their money.

I remember seeing similar articles about Sex abuse in LA schools. Seems like the Lawyers are all over them. https://www.taylorring.com/practice-areas/sexual-abuse-sexual-assault/sexual-abuse-in-schools/sex-abuse-in-lausd/#:~:text=Over the past few years,other LAUSD employees and contractors. Seriously, this whole situation stinks. There's a balancing act between compensating victims, prosecuting abusers, and holding institutions accountable. It's a terrible tragedy, and nobody is going to come away from it happy. The victims can't get their lives back no matter how much money they get, the people who rely on the institutions have lost trust and tax money/donations. It's harsh stuff.

Depends on the state. New York's is at least consistent, in that it allows public as well as private entities to be sued, but as they were debating the statue change, public organizations were exempt to start. They were lambasted and relented, but that won't always be the case.

They'll just exempt government entities.